Town Prepares To Dispose Of Bulky Wastes For Area

MANCHESTER — Columbia First Selectwoman Adele Urban said she is relieved her town will soon be dumping its bulky waste in the Manchester landfill.

Columbia has been searching for another place to dump its bulky waste since its landfill closed a year ago. The town has temporarily dumped its bulky waste at the Windham landfill, but that landfill is also expected to close in the near future.

``It sends us scurrying around because there aren't that many landfills open,'' Urban said. ``I'm very pleased Manchester would accept us, and the tipping fee is less.''

Starting in November, Columbia and other towns in the region are planning to dump bulky waste in the Manchester landfill as part of a new two-year pilot program. By accepting bulky waste at $46 per ton, the town is hoping to generate as much as $400,000 per year.

The additional income is intended to go toward the $3 million cost of operating the landfill and future landfill closure costs, which may range between $5 million to $7 million, said Louise Guarnaccia, the town's field services administrator who oversees the dump.

The deal with Columbia and possibly as many as nine other member towns in the Mid-Northeast Recycling Operating Committee calls for Manchester to receive an additional 8,100 tons per year of bulky waste.

The town has already received 254.7 tons of bulky waste from outside the town -- and generated $14,367 -- since the program started in June.

The 57-acre dump has about 10 to 15 years of life left at its current fill rate of about 45,000 tons per year.

The town's permit to dispose of solid waste at the landfill expires in March 1999.

Guarnaccia is not certain whether the state Department of Environmental Protection will renew the town's discharge permit because of new stringent federal laws intended to protect ground and surface water. She said the state prefers that garbage be brought to a trash-to- energy plant instead of being dumped at landfills.